SIMPLE BEGINNINGS

Gladys WarthenCHICAGO TRIBUNE

I was born on a farm where we had no electricity, plumbing or central heat. Our plumbing was a little house in the back yard with three holes and a Sears Roebuck catalog, where we went through the pages to find a page that wasn't slippery. No running water, cisterns in the basement with a small pump by the kitchen sink for water for dishes and bath.

For drinking we had a hand-dug well with a handle. I guess snakes could easily get in it, but we never saw any (guess we never looked for them).

For heat we had what they called a hard-coal stove. Later on we had a pipeless furnace, which took care of the downstairs; for upstairs, we had a small register in the ceiling above the large furnace register, which took care of four bedrooms.

My mother cooked on a wood-coal cook stove. Later she had a kerosene stove--she was in heaven.

I went to a one-room school with about 20 children. My teacher taught all eight grades. Again outdoor toilets, a bucket for drinking water. We all drank out of it and used the same dipper.

My father's first car was a 1915 Reo. So I did go through quite a change in my life. And glad that I did.